Japanese sportswear brand ASICS leveraged its partnership with the annual World Ekiden team relay race through a campaign created in collaboration with painter Frankie Cihi and called ‘The Art Of the Relay’.
ASICS is the host of the annual Ekiden Race, which began in Japan back in 1917 and was originally founded on the values of community, heritage and Japanese running culture, and challenges teams of up to six runners to combine their skills in completing a marathon relay.
To honour this event’s culture and tradition, ASICS teamed up with Tokyo-based muralist Cihi for a campaign built around an original artwork: a vibrant, visual representation of the Ekiden using the ASICS master brand palette and adopting a storytelling approach to communicate the format, community-focus, heritage and spirit of the branded event.
The resulting work forms the core visual identity of the 2022 global ASICS Ekiden campaign and was promoted through an integrated ASCIS campaign spearheaded by a hero ‘The Art Of The Relay’ two-minute spot which dropped on 4 October and was amplified across the brand’s digital and social channels supported by additional content pieces.
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The plan for ASICS going forward is that Cihi will become the first of a series of Japanese artists with whom ASICS plans to collaborate annually to craft the visual identity of future ‘ASICS World Ekiden’ races and campaigns.
The 2022 Ekiden takes place between 9 and 21 November.
Get ready! Registration for the #ASICSWorldEkiden is now open. Gather your team of up to 6 runners for the ultimate relay race, happening November 9-21.
Learn more: https://t.co/xVsF6RV3Ej pic.twitter.com/vvX0drg8VJ
— ASICS America (@ASICSamerica) October 4, 2022
Inspired by Japanese running culture, the World Ekiden challenges teams to complete a marathon distance over the course of six legs of varying distances from 5 to 10km. All teams must pass a ‘digital tasuki’ – the narrow band of fabric used traditionally in ekidens – from one leg to the next and thus work together in the true spirit of ekiden for the team to succeed.
Free for everyone and open to all, the ASICS World Ekiden welcomes participants of all levels and abilities, making it accessible to anyone around the world to experience and embrace the competition. The race returns for 2022 following a successful two years of the event which has so far brought together a combined 96,000 runners from around the world. Between them, they’ve covered over 475,000 kilometres – equivalent to almost twelve laps of the earth’s circumference!
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